A Ghost that Walks
31-8-10
00. Fujiwara no Sai: Delinquent
Akira feels bored. That isn't a feeling he can be accused of indulging in too often, but right now he's very languid, almost uncharacteristically so. He's at the family go-salon, replaying a game he played with his father last week, one that has already been discussed. He is secretly very proud he's able to do this, to remember it hand for hand, because he wasn't able to do it just a few months ago.
He places the stones on the goban, one after the other, and thinks distractedly that the new teacher at school is really cool about homework, enabling him to have more free time. Free time to do whatever he wants: what that is he's not so sure. He's a busy, responsible sort of person so he's always doing something specific. Left to his own devices Akira doesn't quite know what to do with himself.
"Ah! Young master, hello." Muragawa-san calls as he enters the salon and after greeting Ichikawa-san.
"Maybe you could play a little shidougo with me later, if you're not busy?"
Akira smiles and agrees to play the man at a later date. He likes to think of catering to the customers as good practice for when he becomes a go-pro. Which he is certain he'll have no problem becoming.
Just as the words leave his mouth another man enters the salon. He's young, mean-faced, ridiculously tall, with drab brown hair and what Akira's classmates call a "hip style". He looks a bit lost as if he entered the salon by mistake. But when Ichikawa-san volunteers to help him, he turns around suddenly and focuses really intently on her, a comically desperate expression on his face.
"Please! Could you perhaps - please! Allow me to play with the strongest player in the house, if it's not too much trouble!" his tone wavers between desperate and shyly humble and his voice come out stilted, a bizarre combination that makes him seem disturbed.
"Er..." though Ichikawa-san looks like she's about to throw him out on creepiness-principles alone, her eyes turn to Akira automatically when the tall man says 'strongest player'. He turns to Akira so swiftly that the younger boy takes a step back. But it's not only that. The man's brown eyes are impossibly intense, shooting Akira like laser-beams. Akira gulps uneasily, but something in him that he generally spends great effort to squash recognizes the challenge and urges him to accept it.
He offers to play him, then suggests they go to the back where it's more quiet.
"I am grateful." the man says looking out of place with stilted sounding manners and mugger clothes in a well-lit, up-class Go salon. It is mind-boggling. He fidgets a bit as if he seriously can't wait.
Akira asks mostly out of habit if the man would like to have a handicap.
"That would be unnecessary." the man says. "My name is Fujiwara no Sai."
Akira introduces himself as well, bows, then takes one of the goke.
"Please to meet you too!" the man named Fujiwara exclaims, his voice still awkward, though expressive enough to make Akira curious of this man's enthusiasm.
They nigiri. Akira takes white.
About an hour later Akira is trying to figure out what in the name of all that is holy just happened. The game didn't turn out how Akira expected it -for one thing he lost and everything-, though he didn't really have any concrete expectations. For a few moments he just stares at it.
It's shidougo. Someone other than his father played shidougo with him and he hardly even noticed. He raises his eyes to Fujiwara. After witnessing the man's play, he looks, if possible, even weirder than before. The gentle Mona Lissa smile, glinting eyes and unbelievable skill are far too alien on such a mean looking face, obviously taught in the ways of scowling.
"You are strong Akira-kun." The voice in less stilted that before, but now Akira has more urgent concerns.
Akira asks tentatively if Fujiwara-san would perhaps like to play another game because he's too polite to resort to begging a complete stranger who could, despite apparently being a very strong Go player, still be a pedophile.
"It would be a pleas-." Fujiwara-san smiles wider, which looks painful, when suddenly a loud bang interrupts him.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!"
What looks like an elementary school student runs straight at them and violently pushes Fujiwara out his seat. The man crushes on the floor sideways with a surprised groan. Akira has been reduced to gaping.
"Come back here! Oh my god, I'm so sorry, he just dashed, god, right in front of me and didn't stop when I called him! Boy, that's the rudest thing I've ever seen! You should apologize immediately!" Ichikawa-san barely stops to take a breath to start chastising the small boy. He is probably about Akira's age and he is gasping for breath. He is facing the woman but he is still scowling at air near the goban. Akira notices that half his hair is dyed an outrageous blond color.
"What' just happened?" Fujiwara asks, rubbing his head a scowl (that looks surprisingly natural compared to his previous expressions) set on his face.
"I'm very sorry, as I said, I couldn't stop him, that is -boy! Apologize!"
The boy scowls a bit more then turns to Fujiwara and bows stiffly. "I'm sorry for pushing you mister."
"Oh, you'll be sorry! You're lucky you're a kid. Otherwise, I'd beat the snot out of you!" Fujiwara, in a way that would suit him if he hadn't spent the afternoon with Akira being achingly polite, growls and waves his fist menacingly at the boy. The noy shrinks for a moment, flails his arms in the air silently and runs away. It all happens so fast, Akira doesn't have time to process it at all.
"What a brat!" Fujiwara sneers. He scowls around and seems a bit surprised by the location. "What the hell am I doing here? What is this place?"
Akira is once again left staring. He says in a confused tone that this is a go-salon. It sounds like a question. The man has just finished beating him in the game Akira has been playing since he was five years old.
"A what? Anyway, I'm leaving." Fujiwara says and hastily proceeds to the exit.
"Wait! Didn't you say you'd like to play again?" Akira yells after him.
"The hell? I said no such thing!" the man grunts without turning.
"Would you like to though?" this time Akira's a bit desperate.
"Get real, I don't even know how to play this weird-ass shit of a game!"
As the man leaved the salon and the customers grumble loudly insulted, Akira stands bewildered and unblinking.
Huh?
.o0o.
"You know you're a total jerk, right?"
"I still can't believe it! You can see me?"
"Yes, yes, but like I said, you can't just go around possessing people like that!" the boy shouts at the ghost.
"How can you see me? This has never happened to me before! I'm so excited!" the ghost ignores him and exclaims jumping in place, then runs to catch up. The boy walks fast.
"Yeah, I can see that." the boy remarks sarcastically. "I can see ghosts generally. There's nothing special about you." he adds snidely.
"Wow! What is your name? I am Fujiwara no Sai!"
"Shindou Hikaru." the boy grumbles.